Research!America Joins Coalition of Small Business Innovators

ALEXANDRIA, Va.- August 28, 2013– Research!America announced today it has joined the Coalition of Small Business Innovators (CSBI). CSBI is a national, non-partisan coalition of organizations dedicated to stimulating sustained, private investment in small, highly innovative companies focusing on the development of new technologies.

Research!America is the nation’s largest nonprofit public education and advocacy alliance working to make research to improve health a higher national priority.

“Research!America is a particularly influential voice in efforts to promote medical innovation. Our missions are well-aligned, and we are truly pleased they have joined our effort,” said Coalition spokesperson Sarah Elliott.

“Our principles of advocating for strong policies that support furthering medical, health and scientific research are in line with CSBI’s goals, and we are excited to join the effort,” said, Mary Woolley, CEO of Research!America. “For research intensive companies to develop cutting-edge products, the tax code needs to be adjusted to better incentivize private investment. The tax reforms proposed by the Coalition make sense for business and job creation, for patients, and for our nation’s global competitiveness.”

The Coalition’s legislative objectives are to modernize the current U.S. tax code to recognize and promote small business innovation as fundamental to the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. The Coalition’s objectives are:

Stimulating private capital for research by relaxing the passive activity loss rules in Section 469 for small research-intensive companies;

Removing financing restrictions in Section 382 to allow small companies to retain their net operating losses generated by R&D expenditures; and

Improving capital gains treatment for small research-intensive companies by changing the gross assets test in order for these companies to qualify for Section 1202.

Next generation innovators, which employ millions of Americans in a broad array of U.S. industries, are working every day to develop groundbreaking technologies to solve the greatest challenges facing our society – whether it’s finding a cure for cancer, developing new life-saving medical devices, or creating renewable energy and water technologies. These companies are also contributing to the economy by providing high-quality jobs and by helping keep the U.S. competitive and on the cutting edge of research and technology breakthroughs.

The Coalition of Small Business Innovators believes that, through the tax code, Congress and the Administration should enact policies that promote greater private investment in small business research-intensive innovation in order to maintain America’s global competitiveness, sustain and create American jobs, and incentivize investments in the United States.

CSBI supports a U.S. tax code that recognizes innovation as a crucial part of the 21st century American economy and believes that, by itself, a lower corporate tax rate will not support growth and innovation in America’s small businesses, many of which are pre-revenue. The Coalition advocates for policymakers to both lower the corporate rate and to specifically promote innovative pre-revenue research-intensive businesses through incentives which spur private investment, encouraging other companies, individuals, and funds to invest in small companies and support their research.

The Coalition believes Congress can and should incentivize further development and improve America’s economic health by recognizing the importance of innovation and its potential to save lives, create new technologies, spur scientific advancement, and create jobs in innovative businesses.